IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v80y2020ics0160289620300179.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The net effect of ability tilt in gendered STEM-related choices

Author

Listed:
  • Sadowski, Ireneusz
  • Zawistowska, Alicja

Abstract

Prior research identifies ability profile as one of the important factors explaining gender imbalance in STEM-related career choices. The profile is often operationalized as a mathematics- versus verbal-ability tilt. While the relationship between the tilt and a career choice is usually explained using concepts of gender-specific investments or comparative advantage, it is rarely considered that this relation is in fact causally reciprocal. In this article, we assume that investments in skill development and a set of considered educational options are interdependent, as students invest more time in subjects that seem more relevant to their plans, while the plans themselves are at least in part shaped by self-assessed cognitive strengths. The goal of this study is thus to estimate the magnitude of the direct impact of the mathematics- versus verbal-ability tilt on the educational choices that enable the pursuit of a STEM career, while accounting for endogeneity in this relationship. We employ the instrumental variable approach to data on the Polish high-stakes exit exams that serve as a de facto filter to particular majors in tertiary education. The analysis covers the 2018 population of senior-year students (mostly 19-year-olds) taking the exit exams in all 5323 Polish high schools. The results reveal that ability tilt is as important in explaining students' choices of further educational paths as their level of mathematical ability and accounts for much of the gender gap in pursuing STEM majors. Methodologically, we point out that the results are substantially different from those estimated without taking into account school effects and the endogeneity of ability and choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadowski, Ireneusz & Zawistowska, Alicja, 2020. "The net effect of ability tilt in gendered STEM-related choices," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:80:y:2020:i:c:s0160289620300179
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2020.101439
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289620300179
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2020.101439?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Contini, Dalit & Tommaso, Maria Laura Di & Mendolia, Silvia, 2017. "The gender gap in mathematics achievement: Evidence from Italian data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-42.
    2. Wai, Jonathan & Hodges, Jaret & Makel, Matthew C., 2018. "Sex differences in ability tilt in the right tail of cognitive abilities: A 35-year examination," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 76-83.
    3. David Roodman, 2011. "Fitting fully observed recursive mixed-process models with cmp," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 11(2), pages 159-206, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Teimuraz Gogokhia & George Berulava, 2021. "Business environment reforms, innovation and firm productivity in transition economies," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(2), pages 221-245, June.
    2. Tuccio, Michele & Wahba, Jackline & Hamdouch, Bachir, 2016. "International Migration: Driver of Political and Social Change?," IZA Discussion Papers 9794, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Hajime Seya & Junyi Zhang & Makoto Chikaraishi & Ying Jiang, 2020. "Decisions on truck parking place and time on expressways: an analysis using digital tachograph data," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 555-583, April.
    4. Michael Grimm & Carole Treibich, 2013. "Why Do Some Bikers Wear a Helmet and Others Don't? Evidence from Delhi, India," AMSE Working Papers 1348, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France, revised 10 Oct 2013.
    5. Donatella Furia & Alessandro Crociata & Massimiliano Agovino, 2018. "Voluntary work and cultural capital: an exploratory analysis for Italian regional data," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 789-808, December.
    6. Fabio Sabatini & Francesco Sarracino, 2015. "Keeping up with the e-Joneses: Do online social networks raise social comparisons?," Papers 1507.08863, arXiv.org.
    7. Catherine Sofer & Claire Thibout, 2019. "Women’s investment in career and the household division of labour," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(60), pages 6535-6557, December.
    8. Surya Nath Maiti, 2024. "Domestic Risk Factors, Violence and Marital Dissolution: Evidence from Demographic and Health Survey of India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(5), pages 1147-1170, October.
    9. David Roodman & James G. MacKinnon & Morten Ørregaard Nielsen & Matthew D. Webb, 2019. "Fast and wild: Bootstrap inference in Stata using boottest," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 19(1), pages 4-60, March.
    10. Ellis, Jimmy R. & Gershenson, Seth, 2016. "LATE for the Meeting: Gender, Peer Advising, and College Success," IZA Discussion Papers 9956, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Maria Luisa Mancusi & Andrea Vezzulli & Serena Frazzoni & Zeno Rotondi & Maurizio Sobrero, 2018. "Export and Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises: The Role of Concentrated Bank Borrowing," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(337), pages 177-204, January.
    12. Saul Estrin & Julia Korosteleva & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2022. "Schumpeterian Entry: Innovation, Exporting, and Growth Aspirations of Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 269-296, March.
    13. Elizabeth E. Davis & Caroline Carlin & Caroline Krafft & Nicole D. Forry, 2018. "Do Child Care Subsidies Increase Employment Among Low-Income Parents?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 662-682, December.
    14. Barış Alpaslan & Julide Yildirim, 2020. "The Missing Link: Are Individuals with More Social Capital in Better Health? Evidence from India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 811-834, August.
    15. Lei Liu & Yue Xu & Zhaotian Yang & Ying Li, 2023. "The interrelationship between environmental NGO development and environmental condition in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8487-8516, August.
    16. Thiermann, Insa & Breustedt, Gunnar & Rosenau, Carolin, 2019. "Einfluss der Größe auf die Aufgabe der Tierproduktion – empirische Analyse Milchvieh und Sauen haltender Betriebe in Deutschland," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 68(3), September.
    17. Vimefall, Elin, 2015. "Income diversification and working children," Working Papers 2015:8, Örebro University, School of Business.
    18. van Ooijen, R. & Alessi, R. & Knoef, M., 2015. "Health status over the life cycle," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/21, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    19. Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke, 2016. "Female say on income and child outcomes: Evidence from Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series 134, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Seya, Hajime & Nakamichi, Kumiko & Yamagata, Yoshiki, 2016. "The residential parking rent price elasticity of car ownership in Japan," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 123-134.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:80:y:2020:i:c:s0160289620300179. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.